Reading Response

Is this story fair? Why/why not?
            
                   The story Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor explores the social issues of racism down south, in the 1930. The main characters name is Cassie, unlike the other African Americans her family owns their own land and doesn't share crop. Although they are well enough off,  her world is constantly shaken by people who are putting her down. This book is not fair for Cassie, because she is discriminated because she's black.

                 Cassie deals with a lot of things that are unfair at her school. For example, Cassie receives a reader in her class, but finds that it is an old soiled book, "Stamped on the inside cover of my book was a chart which read ...'#12, September 1933, very poor condition, nigra'. The blank lines continued down to 20 and I knew they had been reserved for black students." pg. 24-25. This situation is not only unfair to Cassie, but to all the other black students. Just because they are black, they get the old books that have been used by white kids for years in advance. Not until the books are in "very poor" condition do black students get to use them. I think that a persons skin color shouldn't determine the quality of their life. I think that is someone works hard, they deserve the proper rewards without regard to their appearance. I think that both Cassie and Little Man had the right to get mad that they were put down because of their skin color, and I think that the teacher is being ignorant to not see why her students were upset by the books.

              Another thing that is unfair in the book is just because Cassie is black she and her siblings can't ride the bus to school. Though this may seem not that bad, not only do the black kids have to walk miles to school on dirt roads, the white kids and the bus driver torment them. One example is "We also had to worry about the Jefferson Davis school bus zooming up from behind and splashing us with the murky waters of the road. Knowing the bus driver liked to entertain his passengers by sending us slipping across the road..." pg. 42. This situation is especially unfair because an adult is entertaining himself with the misery of others. Its just cruel that they have to worry about being splashed with murky water. It is so unjust that the white people teach the black children with such a lack of respect. I think that it is horrible to do this to anybody, let alone children,

                Reading this book I often found myself angered by the behaviors of a lot of the white people and how they put Cassie and other blacks down. I wanted to shake them and say "whats wrong with you? Everyone is the same! You're just being cruel".  It makes my stomach turn that children had to grow up in such unfair environments, where everything was just less for them because of their skin color. I don't even know what this country would be without the civil rights movement, and its one of the best things that happened to the south. I hope that eventually everyone can learn to be tolerant of other peoples skin colors, and no one will be judged based on that.

Social Action Reading Response

What really hard things are happening in this text? Are these things happening in the world now? Where?                
               The book Its Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is the story of a boy in high school as he battles who is struggling with many problems as he caused by the intense pressure at his high school. There is a whirl wind of social issues in this book. I think that in this book there are some social issues  that are hard to deal with, but that are apparent in the world.

                  One social issue in this book is depression. The story surrounds the life a boy named Craig dealing with depression. The story starts with "Its so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself." pg. 3. This line is said by Craig and its the first 10 words. One interesting thing about this book is that the issue that its dealing with is very apparent, you know from the very beginning that Craig is depressed. Depression is a particularly hard issue because it is something thing that can happen to anyone, this story really captures how a happy kid could turn into someone messed up and depressed. Also, this problem doesn't have a simple answer, like one medicine that will always work, curing depression is a process that people must take on. I think that a lot have people have experienced at a close personal level, so this issue can be hard to read about. 

                 Depression is a very real in the world around us. Depression is everywhere, all over the world. For example "More than 350 million people suffer from depression globally" That is a lot of people world wide suffering from depression. Its not a disease you catch, but a state of mind that people are trapped in. The problem that a lot of depressed people face is they feel alone, in the book where Craig gets better is when he meets people with other problems. I think that unity always makes people feel better, especially when battling something as hard as depression. 

               I think that this book really does a good job of capturing the issue of depression and how hard it is for people to deal with. It goes through a step by step process of his life, how he becomes depressed, his life with depression, and his treatment. The emotional depth of this book is really amazing, and it should be considering that depression is an entirely emotional disease. I think it really teaches how wide spread depression is and how its a hard issue to deal with.

Social Awareness Booklet

#1

Issue: Racism 

Form of Presentation: Reading Response

          When you think of Harry Potter your thought immediately jump to wizards and witches and magic, a world of complete fantesy. That is all true, but burried within there is a deeper meaning. This magical world is woven using strands connected to real life social problems. They are not always easy to see at first, but once you begin looking for them, they are everywhere. One social issue I have discovered in Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is racism.

Racism? In Harry Potter? Even though muggles and wizards are made up, in the story there is a really apparent difference between the characters who come from wizarding families and the ones who don’t. In the book, there is even a curse word to describe people who have muggles, non-wizards, as parents. “‘No one asked your opinion you filthy little Mudblood’ he spat. Harry knew at once Malfoy had something really bad because there was an instant uproar at his words”. Here you can see that even in Harry Potter people say things that are really mean. Just like in real life there are words that can be extremely hurtful and have horrible meanings. There are bad names for Jews, and African Americans, and all other types of people. They all have the same effect, singling someone out based on their race. I think this is really horrible thing to do. J.K. Rowling conveys that the concept of making fun of people based on their race is a bad thing, because the character who does this is a bad one. In the entire book, Malfoy is the example of the mean bully. He’s rich, has a poesy, his families important, and he’s mean to everyone who he thinks are not as good. If J.K. Rowling is conveying that only bad people say stuff like “mudblood’ are bad, she’s showing that being racist is wrong. Besides, all people are the same on the inside, and it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside. There are always going to be some people who can’t get past how people look, and I feel personally sorry for them.

This is not only time you see racism come up. In the fifth book, there are a lot of issues with creatures being insignificant because they are half-breeds. On example is “ By the laws laid down for the regulation and control of magical creature, any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves on a human-’ ‘What did you you call us? Shouted a wild looking black centaur…” Again you see how one race deems it self superior to all others, and looks down on them because of that. Delorus Umbridge openly insults the centaurs just because they are half horse, she sees them only as filth. I think that one problem she faces is inability to accept others who may look different. I think that this is a very important atribute for all people to have.

As you can see racism is a very apparent issue in Harry Potter. I think that this really goes to show you how books that seem so unreal can talk about social issues that are problems still today. I think by including issues in books for children, it can help teach tolerance at an early age. I try personally not to judge people based on their appearance of their family, or their race. I hope that everyone can try hard to accept others for who they are, not what they look like.

#2 

Name: Catalina Escobar

Age: 42

Location: Cartagena, Colombia

Job: She is the creator and president of the foundation: Juan Felipe Gomez Escobar, an organization that works to lower child mortality and supports teenage mothers

Social Issue: teen pregnancy and poverty

Backround: Catalina graduatated from the Business Administration from Clark University (1993). She also studied in Europe and Japan (Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka) and a Master in Business Administration. Before the foundation, She served for several years in the financial sector. She was volunteering at a hospital in the slums if Cartagena when a newborn died in her arms. She was devastated to learn that the baby was a child of a teen mom, who didn’t have the $30 to pay for treatment for her child. This combined with the recent accidental death of her son, pushed Catalina to sell her international trading corporation and commit her life towards helping teen moms and their babies.

How She Changes the World: Catalina first donated money to create a state-of-the-art neo-natal unit. She than brought in experts to train the clinic's staff and established a program to cover the medical costs for babies born to impoverished mothers. In the year after the creation of this wing, the infant mortality rate dropped by 67%. 

After noticing the abundance of teen moms, she realized the best way to stop the babies from dying because of lack of money for proper care, was by helping the girls themselves.  In order to help these teen mothers, she has set up a care facility located at the center of the slums, it’s equipped with a daycare, medical center, cafeteria and classrooms. "... this is a piece of heaven [on] Earth," she said. "They deserve the very best."                            As part of the program Catalina has set up, the girls learn about sex ed., how to care for their children, basic hygiene, they take high school classes onsight also. The program also includeds loans and connections so that the girls can go to college and get real jobs.

In 2005, she established a medical clinic that has provided health care to more than 84,000 low-income residents of the community. Most of these were mothers and their children. She's also planning to build an early childhood education center where the girls can bring their children ages 1-5. Her dream is to expand her program and foundation through out Colombia. 

#3 

Issue: Bullying

Form of Presentation: Poem

You roam the halls

Up against the wall like a shadow

trying to be silent

Except for the occasional sound of your moving feet

you go unnoticed

Except for when the cruel ones

Choose 

To notice

Chattering in classes

Jeering faces

Inside jokes, about you

But your not included

You are pushed

 your back up against the wall

Afraid 

To say anything

A shove

In the rain

You go flying 

Face first 

Into the puddle

You get up and run away, 

Happy

That your tears

Are mingled with the rain

Everyone laughs 

When you say anything

And not in a friendly way

People cringe at your voice

In the halls everyone wispers

“Creeper!”

You long for a friend

Some one, 

To confide in 

Someone to trust,

Who wouldn't laugh

You would care

Your angry

Before you were scared of what they thought

Now your just angry

With them

Not just the ones

Who made up the jokes

But also the ones who laughed at them

At the people who just let it happen

The teachers that didn’t care

You finally say something

Fingers typing fast on keys

Letting loose a letter

A rant

Letting loose your hate

For them

And what do they say in return

Nothing

At first

They just laugh

And go on and on

About 

How much of a loser you are

And then...you begin to believe them

Process and Thoughts: Writing this poem, my I attempted to capture the feelings and emotions of kids who have been bullied. I try to highlight the fact that when people laugh at you, it can be more hurtful the being pushed or shoved. I got the basis for the idea of the poem by combining things I have read in books, seen in movies, and in real life. 

I wanted to keep the stanzas short and simple, but still tell a powerful story.. The process, the mental stages that kids who are bullied go through. It starts with a boy, he is not very cute, and doesn’t have any close friends. I go on to write about physical bullying, and then to the essence of what people say. It was important to me to include apart where the boy wishes for a friend, because I think that it is really important for everyone to have someone they can talk to so they dont feel so alone.

Reading Response

               I couldn't imagine ever changing my name, especially not if the government was forcing me to change it. This is what happened to Tae-yul and Sun-hee in When My Name Was Keoko, when the Japanese government took control of Korea and forced all the Koreans to take Japanese names. The book tells the story of a young girl and her brother growing up  Japanese Korea during World War Two. I think that Sun-hee really struggles with the issue of being true to the ones she love.

               This shows up with Sun-hee's friend Jung-shin. In one part of the book Jung-shin's sister is going to be chosen to work in Japan, but the commander says to pick another girl. Sun-hee realizes this must be because Jung-shin's father is a "chin-il-pa", a friend of the Japanese, the chin-il-pa are looked at as traitors by other Koreans. Sun-hee and Jung-shin become distant after this incident. Sun-hee notices that before the discovery that Jung-shin dad is a chin-il-pa, they were just to girls who were friends, but once again the complications with Korea and Japan ruined it. Later in the book, a few months later, Sun-hee finds Jung-shin and asks her to be friends again. She really learns to other come their differences and be friends with her despite that her dad is a chin-il-pa. I think that this really shows her internal strength.

             I think that it would be really hard to live in a place with so many laws against your nationality. I think that the Japanese government is doing a really cruel thing by trying to take away the Korean aspect of Korea. Sun-hee really shows that the power of friendship is so much stronger than anything that the government can do. It is quite a feat for a girl of the age of 13. I think that when people are exposed to drastic situations they have the strength to push through things, and this is shown in When My Name Was Keoko. I wish I could have the strength to do what Sun-hee has done, she is really an inspiration to not care about race or creed, but who they are on the inside.

Non Fiction Post

         After the storm Sandy hit, New York City was a wreck! Trees down everywhere, subways flooded, roofs blown right off their houses. Articles like Sandy survivors push toward normalcy and search for the missing shows the damage of the storm. Miraculously even during this event, people were making efforts to save people in danger, and donate to those in need. This is shown in the article Hurricane Sandy Relief Charities Raise More Than $92 Million. In both articles you see the call and response to the issue, which is really movong.

         Unfortunately, like in any disaster, parts of the city were left in shambles, and some people even lost there lives. The over all death toll from this storm was 85 people, a huge amount considering the amount of preparation we had, but somethings can't be helped. Also, in places such as Breezy Point, they were faced not only with flooding waters, but raging fires. Its most tragic in this storm, because it puts people at risk to try to help. In the end the fire took out 80 homes, because of the winds. With the city crippled they search for help, and try to keep people safe.

         With a storm of this size and the extent of the damage, it was really important that people who were at no loss pitched it. I think that New Yorkers rose to meet this bar right away. As shown in the article title, Hurricane Sandy Relief Charities Raise More Than $92 Million, in just a week after the storm people have donated $92 million dollars. People really are more responsive when they know it's their friends and families suffering the damage, it could have been them! Another help effort was NBC's hour long charity concert to raise money for the Red Cross, "The star-studded event featured performances by artists who hail from some of the hardest-hit areas, including New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi and Long Island's Billy Joel. In this situation everyone stepped up right away, and the city was at no loss for help.

After reading about all this I was really moved, i think that this show the unit of New Yorkers, and I hope that it always stays the same. We may be the ones helping now, but who knows they might be helping us tomorrow!

Revised Reading Response

    A lot of the time, you may read two really good books on different topics. What you might not notice is that many books have a similar theme. With the books Shine by Lauren Miracle and Sources of Light by Margaret McMillan this is true. Cat, the main character of Shine, works to bring justice to the person who beat up her friend Patrick, because he was gay. Sam, the main character from Sources of Light, deals with trying to fit in and her moral beliefs after she moved to 1960 Jackson, Mississippi. These two books both have the issue of trust in them.

    In Shine, Cat’s issue with trust is that she questions herself. She questions her sense of who she puts faith in. Cat had been raped by her brothers best friend, her brother saw it happening, and he didn’t do anything to stop it. “Several minutes passed,  and I started crying. Christian wasn’t going to beat the crap out of Tommy. Christian wasn’t going to do a thing.” pg. 258. Here in the text, it capture the moment in which Cat realizes that her brother, the one who’s the world to her, isn’t going to help her, even when he sees Tommy raping her. I don’t know in what world I wouldn’t run to help my sister if someone was hurting her, and if it was one of my friends I would murder them! Her brother leaves her alone at her most venerable time, which he could have actually changed. I think that Cat does have a reason to question who she trusts, who if there to protect you, if the one who you care about most chooses not to. I think it’s amazing that Cat finally gets over it, I would have been scarred for life. This really shows how strong Cat is.

    In Sources of Light, Sam also deals with the issue of trust. Sam is in a relationship with Stone. He’s the rich white boy with the perfect family, or so she thinks. It turns out the Stone’s father is a raging lunatic when it comes to civil rights, he’s all against it and part of a KKK type organization. Stone tells her to trust him, that he isn’t like his father, but she doesn’t know what to think. It would be really hard to believe that anybody who is seen with their father at anti-civil rights events, is not racist. I think that Sam is partly blinded because she really likes Stone. In the text you see Stone yelling at peole who are sitting at lunch counters, arresting people at civil-rights protests and Sam becomes unsure. I think if I were her I wouldn’t trust Stone. You can’t believe what everybody says, sometimes your faced with the facts, whether you like what they look like or not. Sam needs to learn to trust herself, and then she would know if she should believe Stone.

    Sam and Cat’s battles both revolve around trusting the ones you love. With both of them, they see some one they love letting them down. Trust is a very tricky thing. It depends on the people you are dealing with, and you really never know the truth. I think trust is the most important virtue, because with trust you can open yourself up to others and be able to count on them. Sometimes you put your trust in the wrong person, it happens. It can result it server damage, like with Cat. I think the only thing you can do is be careful who you trust, and put trust in the ones who you can count on, and do your best to keep the trust of others.

Reading Response On HP #4

           I have enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series many times, and I've found myself again reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. In this volume Harry's name has been entered, by someone unknown, to compete in the very dangerous "Tri-wizard Tournament". I think that a major issue in this book is trust.

          In one part of the book Harry has trust issues, with his best friend Ron. Ron had earlier requested that the two of them try to sneak their names in when it wasn't aloud, but Harry denies. When Harry's name is pulled from the goblet, Ron is very angry and hurt thinking that Harry put his name in with out him. Ron says "It's okay, you know, you can tell me the truth,' he said...'but I don't know why you're bothering to lie"pg. 287. I think that this quote is really showing how obviously upset Ron is with Harry, he is talking very sarcastically. You can really see that they are having issues with trust, because even though Harry keeps telling Ron he didn't put his name in, Ron refuses to believe it. I think that they need to work on trusting each other to avoid conflicts  like the one in this chapter.

         In another section of the book the issue of trust is shown between Mad-eye Moody and Harry. In the end of the book it turns out that Moody isn't really who he says he can be. One quote supporting that is "No,' said Moody slowly. 'No, he didn't. It was I who did that.' Harry heard but didn't believe"pg. 675. When you read this you can really see how much faith Harry had in Moody, he openly denies the truth, when it is put in front of him. I think that some times it can be hard to tell truth from lies when something that seems so true, is suddenly untrue. I can see where Harry is coming from, all this time Moody has stood up for him, been someone he can lean on, and now he is saying he's the bad guy. It would be disorienting.

         I think that trust is really important when it comes to friendship. With Harry and Ron you can see how the lack of it can cause arguments. Then, with Moody and Harry, you can see that too much trust can shield a person from the truth. I think that overall this is telling us that it's important to trust the ones you love, but not put too much trust in a person you have just met. I think that this theme is very true to real life also. Think about who you truly trust, not just with a secret, but something more important. I think that Harry was a little too quick to trust, and sometimes it can be to late to turn back.

Reading Response on The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

          "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by is a great short story about a 14 year-old-boy, Joby, who runs away from home to join the army to fight the civil war. He is a drummer boy, and once alone is overcome with a wave of emotions relating to the war. I think that in any war it's important for soldiers to have some one to look-up to and to motivate them. I think that in the drummer boy the general is the one who influences Joby's.

       In the story, one reason Joby looks up to the general is as a father figure. One quote from the text supporting this is "You want to cry some more, go on ahead. I did the same last night" pg. 52. I think this quote is really showing how the general cares about Joby. I think that what the general is saying is really comforting because he's saying it's alright to cry. The reason I think that what he's saying is important in a war in particular. This is because a lot of soldiers feel like they have to be men and can't cry, and the general of all people saying it's okay really gives Joby confidence. Also, saying this shows that the general is trying to connect with Joby by saying that he cried too. I think that Joby really needed a father figure because he isn't with his family, and the general really provided this for him.

       I think that another way that the general helps motivate Joby, is that he helps him find his purpose in the war. An example of this from the text is "Do you know that you are the general of the army, when the general is left behind?" pg. 53. I think that this excerpt communicates how the general is showing how influential Joby can be as a drummer boy. I think that this is because the general is such an important role, and the general himself is saying that Joby is strong enough to be like him. Here again we are seeing how the general is trying to connect with Joby on a personal level. Joby can now see how important he is to the army, which really makes him more confident and not as scared of the war.

         I think in the end the general really ends up influencing Joby, so that he feels important, and proud of his role as the drummer boy. I think that if Joby feels this way he can make a bigger impact on the army. One example supporting this is "Then even though shot or torn, those wounds got in hot blood- blood he'd helped stir- would feel less pain." pg. 53. In this quote you can really see how confident Joby is with himself. I think that Joby's job in the war is really important, and it makes a big difference in his work if he feels proud and committed. I think that the change that Joby went through is really inspirational. I think that here Joby is proving that a small boy can make a big difference, and the general helped him realize this. 

      In the end I think that the general is a very important figure in Joby's life. He is the one who can turn him in to this amazing person who can affect the lives of the soldiers. The general as a father figure has the comforting affect, while he helps him realize who he is and how he can help the army. I think that in my life my dad plays this same role. I think that this is the most important connection and everyone should have it. The passage really made me cherish the connection I have with my dad, and makes me want to make it last.

Reading Response On Theme

The book "19 Minutes" by Jodi Picoult is one of my favorites. Its follows the stories of many different characters all surrounding a high school shooting. Everyone is questioning themselves and how the boy who shot everybody could have done what he did. I think that one major theme in the book is how people can be them selves, and how others opinions affect that.

I think this theme is true when it comes to Josie. Josie is about 16 and is in high school. She is the perfect popular girl with a boyfriend who loves her and a perfect life, well it seems. One thing that Josie struggles with is that she feel that she can't be who she really is or all her friends will abandon her. One example of this is that Josie is eating a bunch of french fries which she sees as looking delicious, but when her boy friend makes a comment about how fat she would be if she ate them, they suddenly become disgustingly unappealing. I think that here she is really being influenced by what others think, she can't be herself and just eat, because she criticized. I think this is only true in my life too. People can make huge changes based on what others think, therefore changing and masking themselves. Josie also used to be friends with this boy everyone thought was weird, but left him when the "popular" kids started to accept her. I think that Josie still likes him, but is too scared to loose her popularity by being friends with him. I think this is also mixed in with peer pressure. I end up feeling bad for Josie, because she stuck in this place where her whole life is fake, and she knows it. I think that the best friends are the ones that love you for who you are, not who you pretend to be.

I think that this theme also applies to Josie's mother Alex. Alex is a female judge in court. One thing that Alex has done is overcome being different and has learned to love herself for it. One example of this is that Alex talks about how she was the only female judge and kept pushing past others comments until she became this person that others support and respect. I think that this is something to really look up to in people. By making this choice she really inspires others to reach for their dreams and do what they really want to do. I really admire Alex's initiative, I think it would be hard to be the only one to do anything. I think that Alex really struggled with being who she was and how that fits with the court room. I think that somethings in life have to affect what we do. I think that for justice to be fair everything can't revolve around personal moral. I think that this must have been a hard thing to get over. Letting a criminal go free because there wasn't enough evidence, it comes with the job and there is nothing you can do about it.

In conclusion, these two characters are both intertwined around the theme of who they are as people, but have dealt with it in different ways. Alex chose to overcome it, while Josie gave into it and became someone else. I think that as time passes Josie will reach a point where she has to be herself, or she won't be able to deal with her life anymore. I feel that if Josie could only do that then she could grow to be an amazing person, like her mom. This doesn't just have to do with Josie, but anyone who feels they can't be them selves. 

Responding to Reading Responses

Stella Brooks

       I liked Stella's blog post a lot because I could really understand the point she was trying to get a cross. I totally can relate with being scared of monsters when I was younger. It is also true that fear can also be caused by people you can see on the street. I think that with monsters they are dubbed creepy, while you can't tell who a person is by just looking at them. I think that the unknown can be one of the scariest things, just because it's unknown.  I also liked that Stella's reading response was very thought provoking, without being too over complicated. I think she did a very good job.

Olivia Krent

     Olivia's reading response made me understand the book in a second even though I had never seen it before. I think this is a really good feature in this type of writing because sometimes it's hard to understand where the writers coming from if you don't understand the book. I think that she also brought up a really good point when it came to talking about how you can make everything perfect. I think that this is very true, we can strive to do our best but I don't think that it is possible to truly reach perfection.

Summer Book Reading Response

    Over the summer I read two books that really showed people trying to find right in  a world of wrong. These books were  Shine by Lauren Myracle and Sources of Light  by Margaret McMullan. Shine is about a teenage boy beaten horribly and left in  a coma at the hospital all just because he's gay. The book is told from his former best friends point of view as she searches from the person who hurt him, as she finally learns to get over being raped.  Sources of Light is about a girl and her mom living in Jackson Mississippi in the 60‘s. The book is about the high school girl trying to balance her feelings about civil rights and trying to fit in. I think that these two books relate to each other because they both are about how a high school girl tries to find justice for some of the worlds modern issues.

    In both books the characters are both battling over issues. In Shine, Cat had been raped by her brothers best friend. Cat shuts down and doesn’t let anyone in. She tries to find out why the people she once trusted didn’t protect her when she was being attacked. I think that what Cat deals with is heart breaking. She is left where she’s alone, and I think that it’s amazing when she finally gets over it and has her moment of strength it isn’t for herself, but for someone else. In Sources of Light Sam deals with fitting in. She isn’t as wealthy as all the other girls at school are and her mom is very over the top democratic, which is not at all common in 1960 Jackson. I think that Sam initially just wants to fit in and she doesn’t really care about the bad thing that come along with the popular people, their racial beliefs. As the book unfolds Sam learns to love and respect her mom for what she believes in and learns that there are more important things in the world than being popular. I think these girls both fight hard battles and in the end they both conquer.

    One thing that is the same in both of the books is that someone is beaten  horribly because people don’t like what they are doing and who they are. In Shine Patrick is beaten up because people don’t like that he is gay. In Sources of Light this applies because Perry, a man who photographed the protests for blacks equal rights, is beaten to death by a crowed of white men angry for melding in their business and supporting civil rights for the black. I think that this is really depressing that people could have so much hate that they could murder people in cold blood just for existing. I think that the reason that things like this happen because people are scared of things that are different, they turn their fear into anger. I think they people would be less scared if they could just learn about peoples differences and understand them.

    Another thing that is similar in both books is that their is a character trying to find justice for the wrongs in their world. In Shine this comes up where the main character, Cat, tries to find the person who attacked Patrick, and make sure that he pays the consequences. In Sources of Light this comes up in which the main character Sam finds pictures of Perry’s attackers on his old camera. She makes the choice to give the pictures to the police even though she knows it’s dangerous. In this way both characters are searching for justice, though they might do it differently. I think that this would be a really brave thing to do. I think this is the way that people overcome others hatred, by doing what is right and what you believe in.

    In the end, I wish I could have the bravery to do what either of these two characters did. I think that they end up being really strong people who aren’t afraid to challenge things they don’t believe in. When I step away from these two books they really inspired me to try to do what they did, and make the world a better place.